The head of Criuleni district Iurie Andriuta was arrested on suspicion that he rigged tender contests within projects financed by the EU by favoring business entities in personal and financial interests, IPN reports.

According to investigation materials, in the spring of 2015 the Criuleni District Council founded the municipal enterprise “Edilitate Criuleni” as part of the EU-funded project “CBCRurWaste” for the purpose of managing the process of collecting, sorting and pressing solid waste in the district. As the Council’s chairman, the suspect instructed the managers of the district’s education institutions that the subsequent works should be performed through the agency of “Edilitate Criuleni”.

However, after it was chosen as the winner of the tender contest to provide repair services, “Edilitate Criuleni” signed a subcontract with “Crioleal-Com” SRL that was managed by the son of the Council’s chairman. Earlier, the company was taken over by the district’s head.

Iurie Andriuta is also suspected of promoting a company to design the works to repair the M21-L352-L314 Cruglic-Ohrincea-Javreni road. He faces up to six years in jail and ban on holding particular posts for up to ten years for abuse of power.

/2:16pm/ Searches in office of Criuleni district head

Prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Center are carrying out searches in the office of the head of Criuleni district Iurie Andiuta. Press officer of the National Anticorruption Center Angela Starinski has told IPN that the searches are performed within the case of rigged tender contests that features an ex-head of the same district.

In 2012, the Criuleni District Council and an association signed a memorandum of cooperation for attracting investments to ensure the sustainable development of the district’s communities. One year later, the signatories managed to obtain two grant contracts to the value of over € 2 million.

After the projects were launched, Vitalie Rotaru, who then headed the district, pressed members of the association to make them contribute financially to some of the projects. These told prosecutors that the former district head created impediments to the firms involved in the implementation of the projects in order to persuade them. He also refused to allocate the mandatory co-financing from the district budget. Vitalie Rotaru faces up to 15 years in jail.